Springtime springs new-to-me devotionals :)

Hello friends! It's nearly Memorial Day weekend, how the heck did that happen?! I love these holiday weekends that fall during summer season. They are lovely times to spend with friends and family. And with the kids getting older...I'm definitely appreciating them more now than ever.

This spring, I am trying out a new missal/Sunday devotional, and since this is a favorite topic of mine ;-), I thought I'd do a little review. 😀

As of May, I am a new subscriber to Living with Christ. In the past, I have subscribed to Magnificat, and I LOVE that publication. Magnificat is beautifully illustrated, and very comprehensive. It is a daily missal as well as a daily aid to prayer. It is on the pricier side, though. It is absolutely worth it if you use it every single day, but I found that I was only using it on Sundays. And for Sundays, $50 a year was a lot. Granted, I used to do the multi-year renewal, which brings the price down a bit, but still even $40-$45 a year is a lot when you're only using it once per week. So I finally did not renew, and while I missed it, I felt like it was the right decision. I've been using a St. Joseph Sunday missal that cost like $1.50. :0

But then I saw a special for a free issue of Living with Christ, and decided to try it out. I definitely had been missing having something a little extra special on Sundays, and especially during Holy Week. Before Mass starts, I'm often there early owing to Henry altar serving, and I do like something devotional to stick my nose into that gets me ready for the liturgy. And during Holy Week, I used to devour the Magnificat special edition, since I attend nearly all of the liturgies that week.

I ended up adding the Living with Christ special Holy Week issue on (since my subscription didn't start until after Holy Week, they *do* have a Holy Week issue included with your regular subscription) and absolutely loved it. It's exactly what I wanted: nice little intros to the readings that breaks them down in a relatable way, some extra articles to dip into during the month when you're feeling the urge or sitting in a waiting room, and generally something to look forward to each month. AND, an annual subscription is just $24.95. Even if I only use it on Sundays still (though it does also include the daily Mass readings) that is a much more manageable price for how I use it.

I'm quite thrilled. I need to look into getting a protective cover for it for when I shove it into my purse. But I think it's the perfect solution for the on-the-go, short attention span, sort of gal that I am.

Do you have a favorite Sunday or daily devotional?

Keeping the faith, and preparing for more frolicking with yarn...

Hi all! I have a big weekend coming up, and this week so far has been absolutely insane, with tons going on both at home and at work. But all is well! This weekend I am bound for Rhinebeck, NY, where I will attend the NY Sheep and Wool Festival for the second straight year, and I could NOT be more thrilled! I had such a wonderful time last year, and I feel blessed to be going again with my knitting group. Mid-October, in the Hudson Valley, amongst friends, food truck falafel, fiber-bearing animals, and reams and reams of gorgeous yarn. It is a dream come true, I tell you! I will report in next week with all of the yarny goodness. 🤗

In other news, we were at an open house this past weekend for the local Catholic boys high school that Henry would like to go to next year. The excellent, expensive, Catholic boys high school. 😬But it was a wonderful experience, and Henry handled himself so beautifully in a new situation, interacting with lots of people, both of which I know make him very nervous. I was so proud of him. 💗 The entrance exam is November 17th, and I would appreciate any prayers for focus and discernment that you could wing his way!

In the lead-up to the open house on Sunday, we all attended Mass together as a family. And it was the 8 am Mass. Remember what happened the last time the kids and I went to the 8 am Mass Henry was serving at? Yeah. It was a bit of a disaster. I was feeling so low, and our experience at that Mass only made things worse. Well, needless to say, I wasn't exactly looking forward to going back, but Henry was serving, so I steeled myself, and Mike came with us, which is always lovely. After Mass, this same person came up to talk to me, which I have to say is perplexing, because we don't know each other at all, but I'm a friendly sort. It was again a little strange, but there was a key difference: God allowed me to see something very important. This man doesn't have any ill intentions, he is simply a bit socially awkward. I felt a lot of peace afterwards. And it changed the way I look back and view the other situation as well. I'm feeling peaceful and grateful for this revelation. Sometimes these little things mean a lot, you know?

And in that same vein, attending Mass has become easier for me again. In my time of spiritual dryness, it was hard to go to Mass, but I went anyway. Now, I feel peaceful there again. I know that we don't *need* that feeling in order to go, but it does help, yes? And so here is the crowd sourcing part of our time together. ;-) My subscription with Magnificat is up this month. I have always loved Magnificat, and I still do. I just ordered Anne a subscription to MagnifiKid, in fact. But I thought before taking on another 2 year subscription, I would look at the other options just to see if I liked any of those better. A refreshening and reevaluation process. I spied with my little eye Word Among Us and their format of a small monthly magazine with the optional supplement of the daily Mass readings really appealed to me. Does anybody subscribe to either of these, and what are your feelings on what they have to offer? How about a regular old Sunday missal? One of the things I love the most about Magnificat is the beautiful artwork and the special Holy Week issue each year. Word Among Us seems to have uplifting articles to read throughout, appealing to a bookworm like me.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

A foray back to daily Mass on the Feast of the Visitation...

So, a couple of interesting Catholic tidbits to share today. The first is that my new experiment with Magnificat magazine, after my first full month, is officially a success. I use it pretty much every day. I don't often get to the evening prayers, but I say morning prayer nearly every morning, and I use it for Mass on Sundays as well. I've also read nearly all of the daily meditations and saint stories. It tucks easily into my purse, and I have it for all of the needs that I just mentioned in one compact source. It's quite perfect.

And today, I used it for daily Mass. :) It's been a long time since I've been to a true daily Mass, usually attending during the week only when there is a holy day of obligation. But I used to go all the time back when I was in law school and working as an attorney. My schedule, as well as my location, worked out such that I could make it nearly every day back then. I also went occasionally when I was in college, which is what initially turned me on to what daily Mass truly was.

Daily Mass is pretty much the reason why I'm a committed Catholic today, and didn't just laze around in terms of my spirituality when I was a young adult. I had always assumed that it was like Sunday Mass, just during the week. It's not. It's a lot shorter (less readings and you don't recite the Creed, usually a more concise homily as well), but it packs a heck of a powerful punch. As well, many parishes don't celebrate daily Mass in the main church, having a separate, small chapel for this purpose so that they don't have to worry about heating/cooling the larger space. Obviously, there will be a much smaller crowd for daily Mass as opposed to Sunday, but the people that do go form this cohesive little community. It's comforting to see the same faces all the time, there is a feeling of camaraderie. And these are people who treasure the Mass and the Eucharist, so the reverence level is high.

It was a huge boon to my faith life when I started to attend daily Mass in law school, and that is when the religious vocation discernment took place. After I graduated, I went during my lunch break at work, Our cathedral downtown had a beautiful daily Mass chapel that I could walk to in under 5 minutes.

When I started working as a librarian/went to library school (both at the same place) it wasn't as easy. There is a Newman Center here, but they only have daily Mass during the main semesters, and even then only 3 times per week. My schedule is also different here, I often have classes or meetings that conflict with the Mass time.

At first, when the Newman Center was an easy walk from my office, I would go down there occasionally for Mass. Then, last year, they built a new, gorgeous Newman Center building, which is great, but I can't walk to it. It necessitates a short drive (this is a fairly large campus) and parking here is at a premium. I didn't want to leave my spot and then have to agonize over finding a new one when I returned. Plus, all that walking out to the lot and driving to and from took my time away from my office from about 20 minutes to 40 or 45. It just didn't work.

But I had always wondered about the daily Mass at our parish. The church is maybe a 2 minute drive from our house, and they have an 8 am Mass. I usually like to get to work around 8:30, but even with attending Mass I knew I would get in before 9 am. I just often have 9 am commitments and didn't want to be feeling rushed. Well, today I had no meetings, classes, or reference shifts on my calendar and I knew the opportunity was nigh. It's also the summer, and so parking is easy. I was going to daily Mass.

I left my house at approximately 7:53 am and made it in plenty of time. The small daily Mass chapel, located in the parish center, has it's own small parking lot that I had never used before. I arrived, collected my stuff and headed in.

I was unprepared for the amount of people in there. The chapel was pretty full. I suddenly remembered that the parish Women's Sodality prays the rosary after daily Mass for the month of May, and so they must all make a special effort to come during that time. A quick perusal confirmed Mike's suspicion that, when I expressed an interest in joining the Women's Sodality, I would likely be the youngest member by at least 15-20 years. :) I slipped into a seat and scanned my Magnificat while I waited for Mass to start. There was a featured meditation on the Feast of the Visitation, since that is what we are celebrating today. Love!

I recognized all of the people present from Mass on Sundays. Many of them also serve as lectors or Eucharistic ministers, or in the choir. I sensed some interest generated amongst the congregation that a new person was suddenly in their daily Mass midst, though I'm sure they recognized me. It's not often that a new person will start going to daily Mass, especially when it's not Advent or Lent.

The chapel was quite warm (it's pretty hot here today, at least by my standards :)) but Mass was lovely. I just feel so *good* when I go to daily Mass. It's the perfect way to start your day. After Mass, Father exposed the host in a monstrance, and I stayed to pray for a few minutes before they started the rosary. I was on my way to work by 8:30 am.

So, this pretty much seals the deal that whenever I don't have a 9 am commitment I'm going to go there for Mass in the mornings all summer. It was just smashing.

My latest experiment with daily prayer: Magnificat magazine...

I've flirted with Magnificat before, and at one point before I got married I had a subscription for years. I eventually stopped subscribing because I found myself not using it as much, and I also a full set of the Liturgy of the Hours books. It's not a cheap subscription, so I let it go.

Well, this past Lent showed for sure and for certain that the Liturgy of the Hours just isn't happening at this point in my life. It's not that I don't have the time; it's that in the (somewhat limited) free time that I do have, I'm not disciplined enough to devote the necessary time to it. At some future point it will hopefully be possible, just not right now.

So I tried Magnificat again. Since I last subscribed, they added an option for a 6 month subscription for $24.95. Although you don't save as much money as if you subscribed for a longer period of time, this is a nice option for trying out the magazine at an inexpensive price. No need to shell out $45 for a full year if you're not going to like it or use it. And fyi, Magnificat offers a free sample issue to anybody to wants one, so do take them up on that to get a sense of the magazine if you've never used it before.

My first issue to arrive was May. I was very excited to tuck it into my purse yesterday and pray Morning Prayer. I am so, so glad that I gave this another chance. What Magnificat does is modify Morning and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours (they include selections of the psalms and readings only) into a shorter format. It also includes the daily Mass readings and prayers, and the Order of Mass, so you can use this instead of a permanent or annual Missal. Each day also includes a meditation and a saint story. The saint stories were always my favorite. There will be a short biography of the saint on the calendar, but the section I'm talking about is called "Saints of Today and Yesterday" and discusses a saint I've never heard of before. As is always the case with saint stories, the details are fascinating, sometimes morbidly so. :)There will be a few articles at the very beginning, an editorial and one other, addressing a theme for the month.The cover always features beautiful sacred art (and there is a description of the cover art in the back, along with another featured work of art that is given a full color display and a longer discussion).

This is really a wonderful publication. It's so much more than merely a magazine, but it's also more than a devotional. It's a daily prayer companion. If anybody else subscribes to Magnificat or starts up a subscription, do leave a comment and let me know how you like it.

From the depths of Christmas celebrations, she rises...

Looky here, I'm back. :) It's one of those mixed emotions kinds of days. Obviously, I loved being home and am sad to be back at work away from my babies. In some ways, it's nice to have my routine back, but it's bittersweet. And this morning was anything *but* routine.

Anne was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night (I have no notion why, and given that this is kid #2, I think I've finally learned not to analyze these things too deeply; young children just wake in the night. No sense in getting depressed about it. I think it's a fair assumption that by time they are teenagers, they're no longer going to want my company in the middle of the night) and both Mike and I had to take a shift going in to soothe her. It then took us some time to get back to sleep. Hence, at 3 am, we're up reading with our bedside lights aglow. Come 6:20 am, I glance at our clock and utter a word that I dare not repeat. Luckily, Henry doesn't start back to school until tomorrow, which meant that I could stay in bed a bit longer than usual. He has to be in his classroom saying morning prayers at 7:42 am, so needless to say, when we're having a typical morning we all have to be up by 6:30. Today, since we didn't have him to worry about getting ready, I stayed in bed until 6:50.

Both children and Mike were still sleeping (I peeked in at Anne through her keyhole and glared at her while she snoozed away; lovingly, of course) so I tiptoed around and straightened my hair/applied my makeup in the bathroom and let them sleep. By time I was done shortly after 7, Mike was awake. We had breakfast together without either of the kids, which is pretty unprecedented. As I was finishing up, Henry came downstairs in his PJ's, looking rumpled and confused. I had a quick cup of coffee while reading one of the latest Love Inspired titles on my Kindle, then went up to brush my teeth and fetch Anne, who was just stirring. Naturally, she looked cute enough to eat in her reindeer footed sleeper. I brought her down, got her some breakfast, and then she "helped" me pack my lunch. As soon as I was done, it was time to leave, since I had the first morning reference shift. Anne's face was still all warm and kissable when I left. I felt sad.

I got in the car and froze my buns off, since the temperatures have suddenly dipped into the teens around here. I listened to a podcast on my way in and felt a bit soothed. As I was walking from my car to the library I realized that I forgot my shoes.

*sighs*

I had on my boots, and usually I leave my cute black Mary Janes in my office to slip into. But I took those home since I was going to be off for nearly 2 weeks, and naturally, they did not cross my mind this morning. I remembered that I did have an emergency pair of shoes in my office, although they only marginally match what I'm wearing. However, they're better than my boots, so they're on my feet presently.

I got in and checked my email. I sent off a few and mercifully remembered to turn off my automatic replies that I was out of the office. I made tea, and fetched my snail mail. As I got back to my office to mix my tea before my 9 am reference shift, I realized that it was somehow 8:58. I mixed my tea, grabbed the latest Library Journal that I need to order some books from, as well as my copy of Holy Days: Meditations on the Feasts, Fasts, and Other Solemnities of the Church by our beloved pope to review for Catholic Library World. I step out of my office and close the door. The instant the latch locks, I realize that I left my keys inside the office.

*repeats scandalous curse word from earlier in the morning*

I got set up on the desk and observed the completely empty library. So I put up the "Librarian will be right back!" sign and fetched the sub-master key from our facilities guy. I rescued my key ring and was back down at the desk within 3 minutes.

Needless to say, I'm feeling off-kilter this morning, but I'm hanging in there. I'm looking forward to reviewing the Holy Days book I mentioned above. I also am excited about my new subscription to Word Among Us: Catholic Mass Edition, also my very first Kindle subscription.

I've bought the little Living Faith devotionals for a long time (for a while in print, and then on my Kindle) and they come in 3 month increments. My latest one lapsed after December, so I thought I'd try something new. I've always liked Word Among Us, but have never taken out an official subscription. They offer a 30 day free trial for Kindle, so I took advantage.

So far so good! For each day, it includes the Mass readings plus all the Mass prayers if you are able to attend daily Mass. There is also a daily meditation, and longer articles that you can read over the course of the entire month. If you keep the subscription, it downloads automatically to your Kindle each month and charges $1.99 to your credit card. It's very easy to navigate amongst the articles and the daily meditations, they clearly set this digital edition up with ease of ebook reader use in mind. I read today's installment at 3 am when I was trying to get re-sleepy after soothing Anne. I really enjoyed it.

We'll see how I stick with it for January, but if I like it, I won't cancel the subscription and February's issue will just download for me and then begin charging me. I think $1.99 is more than reasonable for a month of content, and you can immediately cancel at any time, which is a another advantage over a print subscription. I'm super pleased.

I hope that everybody had a wonderful new year, and I look forward to chatting with you Monday through Friday again as we begin 2013. :)

Afternoon obsessions

It's 3 pm. What am I doing?

I just finished working on a document for a presentation I'll give in a few weeks. Thus, I'm obsessively tracking a pair of dance shoes that I ordered that I'd like to practice in this weekend. They started out in Wiles Barre, PA and are now in Philadelphia. That seems backwards to me, but such is the way of things with shipping these days. The tracking page assures me that my shoes are set to be delivered tomorrow, and for its sake, I hope that it's right.

Anyway, I received an email this morning from my friends at Living Faith, that little daily devotional that I have a soft spot for. Over the weekend I'm set to download the new October/November/December issue for my Kindle (also available in print) but I see that they are promoting a new edition just for Advent. 99 Cents for Kindle, what a deal!

Busy weekend, and preparing for fall

You know I'm busy if I don't post on a weekday. Friday was like that. Things are definitely gearing up both at work and at home for the start of a new school year.

We were out getting Henry some new school clothes this weekend. Can I just say how much I love Catholic school uniforms? We don't have to intervene in Henry's morning dressing routine at all. He must wear:

Navy blue pants
A belt
Navy socks
Black loafers

He can choose only the following:

Shirt: white or light blue
Long sleeves or short sleeves

Ahhhh, no more morning matching battles. Attempted pairing of bright red Angry Birds tee shirt with camouflage pants, no longer! It's a thing of beauty. When Anne starts there, I can only imagine how adorable she will look in the girls uniform. Although I have to admit, I do worry about... I don't know exactly how to put this. But about men finding the Catholic girls uniform appealing, let's just say. Mike worries as well and says that he blames Britney Spears. Ha!

I also had a hair appointment this weekend, and in the spirit of fall, my hair is now super dark. I mean, my hair is brown. There's only so much you can do with that. And yes, I dye my hair, because I do get some gray. :) Not that I've complained about that before, or anything. I like getting my hair colored, but I don't put too much stock in any one hue. I like to change it up often, to the extent that is possible with dark brown hair. Lately I'd noticed that my hair was looking quite reddish. I don't really know why, aside from the fact that the summer sun could have been a factor. And I only get my hair colored every 3 months, so it's a long time in-between, and thus the sun fading can really make an impact by around month #2. It looked fine, but it wasn't really what I had chosen, plus you can see my roots more when they grow in.

So, this time I asked my wonderful hair stylist to dye my hair darker. She's excited about changes too, and bustled off to mix my dye. I didn't look at any color cards or anything, I just trusted her.

And my trust is well placed, because I love my hair color now. It's a really dark chocolate brown. Much closer to my original color than the last batch. It's so dark Mike was surprised when he first saw me, lol. It does feel more fall/winterish. Love it.

I brought Henry with me (lured by a new Lego sticker book and the promise of a 7 Eleven slurpee if he was good), to give Mike a break, which resulted in questions such as:

"Mommy, see that sign over there? What is wa...waxing?"

Oh sigh.

"Well Honey, it's to remove hair that you don't want."

*scrunched eyebrows*

"Does that hurt?"

Kids just intuitively always know the important questions, do they not?

Another sign of fall's approach is that I'm really noticing that everyone knows most of the new Mass translation changes now. The "And with your spirit" is a slam dunk every time, along with "It is right and just" and "Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof." The Nicene Creed still requires a missal, but hey, you can't expect miracles, right?

Henry is still doing lots of whining about attending Mass, but the Magnifikid! is a life saver every week. This was very worth the $34.95 subscription price, let me tell you. He works on the activity for a time, but really spends the rest of Mass just following along with the readings and prayers. He's very much like me, always with my nose buried in a missal. He even follows along in the hymnal. It's precious.

My last fall update is about yarn. Because I'm just so excited about it that I'm busting at the seams. I've been finishing up lots of cooler weather projects. New hats for both kids, photos to follow shortly. A scarf for myself. I finally photographed a few sweaters and wraps that I knitted over last winter and early spring that I'll finally be able to break out of the closet.

A snowflake sweater:

I really like that one. It's very warm, knit out of wool.

A cardigan from the well regarded February Lady pattern:

 (please ignore how chunky I look in this picture; My skirt was all bunched up in the waist from my quick changes for knitting photos, and I look downright dumpy. But the sweater looks cute, so I wanted it featured to its utmost potential. :))

And the most infamous of all knitted wrap patterns ever created, the Clapotis:

Very toasty garments, all. And then there's the socks, which I'm the most excited about. I'm currently knitting a pair of falling leaves socks, and I have several self-striping pairs in the wings that I can hardly wait to cast on for. AND, most importantly, after much discreet stalking of my new favorite etsy yarn shop, I am on the waiting list for a skein of self-striping watermelon sock yarn, as well as a self-patterning ghost kit for Halloween. And when the owner mentioned in her message to me that she had just put up more snowman and other Christmas sock kits, I nearly tripped over myself speeding to her site to pre-order one. 

Seriously. In just 2 hours, the Christmas confetti yarn was GONE. Only 2 lonely snowmen kits remained! I scooped one of them up so fast he didn't know what hit him. The kits (which include not just the patterning yarn, but also some coordinating skeins of solid colors for the heels and toes) are, well, a bit more expensive than what I usually pay for sock yarn, lol. However, these are a true work of art and are just beautiful. I think I'm going to knit the snowmen for my mom for Christmas, and with the leftover yarn the shop owner includes a pattern for some ornaments which will make nice gifts.

I'M SO EXCITED.

I can just picture the conversations with Mike this will spawn:

"Have you been buying some gifts Sweetie, I see lots of etsy charges on the bank statement."

"Yes. Um, yarn."

"$50 worth?"

"IT HAS GHOSTS ON IT!!!"

*angelic beam*

Still loving my Kindle, and trying to bellydance in the kitchen

So, I had a very nice weekend, despite the long day on Saturday. Hank had a great time and was very cute about the whole thing. An exhibit entitled "Grossology" does appeal to little boys, no? Learning about snot and gas just makes their day, apparently.

I also managed to sneak in some dance practice, and I feel like I worked the kinks out. My index cards and I have been spending lots of quality time together, and I've just committed to running through the music a few times each day and I can tell it's going better. I just have an entrance, finale, and a few accents planned, the rest is improv. But I listened to the whole song to get a feel for when those accents fall and what other types of musical similarities come in between, and I have a better idea of what types of things to put where. I also need to get on top of practicing our group number and the sword number, which I need to add a solo piece to (!) but I'm not too worried about those. They are infinitely easier for me, psychologically. At least right now, sitting in front of my computer in my air conditioned office, rather than at the dance studio in a sweaty lycra costume trying to balance a sword on my head in front of a room full of people. Good times.

In totally different news, I'm still in absolute love with my Kindle. AND, I just discovered that a little devotional that I really love, Living Faith, is now available for Kindle. I used to subscribe in print, and it's very inexpensive, $11 for a year. It comes in seasonal 3-month segments, and the daily readings are very short, but quite sweet. I always liked it. It is now available for all sorts of devices, including Kindle. Each 3-month segment is only $2.99! So I'm going to download the July, August and September volume. Super excited.

Multitude of things, but importantly, a perking...

Happy feast of the Ascension. :)

Happily, I'm not feeling like Death today. I left work early yesterday, and just crocheted and relaxed for the rest of the day. It took the sting out of the partial weaning thing too. Mike made us enchiladas for dinner, Anne cut a tooth and was back to normal talking to her toys, I took a nice hot shower, and we watched Mad Men. All was well.

My nasal congestion does seem to be clearing (and my lips are better too, for those that care :) ), although I have coughed a few times. *glares* If this settles in my lungs, I'll just start crying. If that happens, I'll probably be too inconsolable to blog, so at least you'll be spared. I still haven't felt well enough to resume my daily walks, and I'm trying to conserve my energy for my balance class tonight. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, I'm preparing for Children's Liturgy of the Word this Sunday. It's my last one for this "year", since the program takes the summers off. I've finally admitted that I'm considering not participating again next year.

I've gotten a lot out of it, but honestly, I don't know if it's where my strongest skill set lies. I like helping out in the parish and feeling like a valuable member of the community. I'm certain that at least some of the kids take something positive away from our sessions together. However. I'm an introverted person, and this feels a lot like herding cats. I think one needs a more commanding voice and personality to really keep the kids in check. It's not like they're running wild in the sacristy when I'm back there, I maintain control. But it's HARD for me to do that, kwim? I'm not enjoying it the way that I used to.

But at any rate, I'm committed for this Sunday, and we'll see how it goes. It'll be decision time this summer. The parish is looking for new lectors, and I'm contemplating signing up for that instead. I'm a good reader. *halo* I have good pacing and all that. And Henry is old enough that he'd be ok sitting by himself in the pew while I did my reading and processing in. Mike would have to be there for me to bring Anne, but I think we could make it work.

So, we'll see. I have time to make up my mind. In other church news, Henry has been very cute with his Magnifikid! He even followed along with the readings and prayers last week. That is one nice thing over this option rather than a generic children's missal like I had gotten him previously. The Magnifikid! has the specific readers and liturgical prayers in them. He's a definite follow-alonger. It's precious.

Henry and his Magnifikid!

The first weekend of May marked Henry's first use of his paid Magnifikid! subscription. I had requested a trial issue via their web site, and they're very nice about it, they send you an entire month worth! Each week is its own separate issue, it's quite cute. His trial issues were for March, and by time I decided to go ahead and order him a subscription, our first issues to arrive were for May. They're always a full month ahead, we actually just received his issues for June over the weekend.

And he missed it during April. He kept asking me for it when we'd go to Mass, and wanting to just use the May issues. Me being me (Type A personality) I refused. Using a May issue during April? I DON'T THINK SO.

Thus, yesterday he was very happy to be reunited with his little booklets. This week's included a word fine, which is always a huge hit.

*stage whisper* "Mommy!"

"What, Honey?"

"What does D-i-s-c-i-p-l-e-s spell?"

"Disciples, Honey."

"Oh, ok. I can't find it. Can you help me?"

He really seems to enjoy them, and I'm glad I got him a subscription. He's been a lot better behaved at Mass for a couple months now. I do feel, though, that he's still not "connecting" at Mass, and he goes only because I insist. We'll get there, though. He doesn't complain about going anymore, so that's good. On Wednesday evening, we have some sort of holy hour to go to at his school for a class project, and I'm looking forward to that. He isn't, but alas. :)  I'm sure it's going to be all very cute. He claims that they each have a role "presenting" something, which confused me, since I assumed it was a Eucharistic adoration holy hour. When I asked for details, he asked if I wanted him to tell me (clearly his preferred response) and "ruin the surprise" but in that case, I said no. I'm expecting something adorable. Perhaps a May crowning?

*squeals*

Adventures in Best Buy, and Magnifikid! review

A couple of interesting purchases to detail. :) Henry used his Magnifikid! for 3 weeks, and finally I made a decision: I decided to get him a subscription. It's $34.95 for one year.

Magnifikid! comes in a clear wrapped packet of 1 booklet for each week of the month. Each booklet contains artwork and prayers associated with the Gospel theme of the week. It includes a kid-friendly rendition of the liturgy, explanation of tough terms, a comic starring "Brother Goodventure," and a puzzle, maze or picture to color. It's targeted to children ages 6-12.

Henry likes having his own book to carry to Mass. I will admit that his favorite feature is the maze or other activity included on the back cover. Last week was a holy word find.

"I LOVE WORD FINDS MOMMY."

Next week is a picture of stained glass to color, not sure if he's going to be as crazy about that. But he does ask me where we are in the Mass so that he can follow along in his little book. He'll look at the pictures and flip through it during the homily, etc. Even though he's not studying it in depth or anything, I still thought that anything that improves his enthusiasm for attending Mass was worth the subscription price. Since we started bringing the booklets with us, he's been better about going to Mass with me. So, that's that, and I'm glad I got him the subscription. We have one last free trial issue for this Sunday, and then we're out of them until his new subscription starts arriving. I'll be curious to see how much he asks about them in their temporary absence.

Once again, I wasn't using my sample Magnificat, so I didn't order a subscription for myself. I already own the 4 volume Liturgy of the Hours set, so I can always use that when I want more discipline for daily prayer. But when Lent started, I was using my Liturgy of the Hours like a good girl. As soon as I started trying to use the Magnificat, I fell off the wagon. That's a wonderful little magazine, but I just don't use it.

So anyway, in other purchase news, I journeyed to our local Best Buy yesterday after work for a few things. I was eligible for a cell phone upgrade, and plus, I wanted to play with the Kindles.

I tackled the more interesting task first. The Kindles and I, we frolicked. I tested out their features and they let me hold them. I am quite taken with them. The "demo" mode really restricts you in the store, but overall, I loved them.

After that, I moved sections real quick-like to do my cell phone upgrade. It's pretty uncomplicated with me, which I don't think the suave salesman was prepared for.

"Can I help you, Miss?" *beams*

He gets bonus points for calling me "Miss" rather than "Ma'am." Makes me feel younger.

"Hi, yes. I have Verizon, and I'm eligible for an upgrade. I don't have a data plan, nor do I want one. I'd like a Qwerty keypad for texting, but I want a free phone. I'm pretty sure these are my few options right here, correct?"

"Um. Wow, you're very prepared. Yes, without a data plan you're very limited. There are your 3 options here."

I can see the little bubble over his head saying "No data plan. What a strange, strange creature."

There were 2 additional phones available for $30 with my upgrade, and they had a touch screen, but I'll show my old-fashionedness (is that even a word?) again here. I don't want a touch screen. Finger prints make me spastic.

So the choice was easy. I simply chose the same phone that I already had in the newer model. In electric blue, because I like loud colors. My cell phone is purely functional for me. I do like to text my sisters and friends, so I pay $5.00 per month for 250 texts, and I never surpass that amount. I have a *really* old plan that is $39.99 for 450 minutes per month, with free Verizon to Verizon and nights/weekends, yadda, yadda.

The phone guy's eyebrows raised again when he went tappy tappy on his computer keyboard and looked up my plan to renew it.

"Wait. It says 'this phone is incompatible with the current plan.' Why on earth would it say that? Oohhhhh. Your plan is REALLY OLD. They're going to make you upgrade."

I'm assuming "they" are the Verizon People From Up On High. This made me sweat for a second, since taxes really add up on these cell phone plans, and I don't want to pay any more per month than I'm already paying. I don't *need* anything else other than the service I'm already receiving, so I don't want an "upgrade."

Well, the good news was that they call it something else now, but I could still have the same plan as I was currently registered for, so that's good. He set everything up on my cute new blue number, and I was set. Payment: $0. Sweet.

I lingered over the Kindles again before I left. We bonded.

So, the big news is: I did it. I just placed my order for a Kindle (the $79 entry model) with accompanying (and adorable) pink case. She needs a name, but I haven't thought of one yet. Perhaps it will become clear to me once she arrives and I hold her for the first time. :)

At any rate, I'm *super* excited. She's due to arrive mid-next week. Now, if only babies were on this type of gestation timeline...

A lenten update, and the future of our Catholic schools

I was thinking about Lent this morning because I haven't been doing nearly as well as I would like with my daily devotions. When March started, I moved over to trying out the sample copy of Magnificat that I received, and as happened before, I'm just not using it. The simple truth is that I get lazy. I love saying my rosary in the mornings, but reading the morning and evening prayers just isn't happening. I did do better with my Liturgy of the Hours set, maybe I should go back to those. But as much as I admire Magnificat, I just don't use it to it's fullest potential. Hank at least has been using his Magnifikid! He still has 2 more issues left (they're actually divided into small booklets for each week) and we'll see how he does with those. I'm on the fence about getting him a subscription. I'm much more likely to pursue a subscription for him than I am for myself for the monthly Magnificat, I just want to make sure that he's going to really, really use it for $35 a year. I'll make a decision in the next week or so.

I will say that I've been keeping up with reading only Catholic nonfiction and religious fiction for Lent. I've been moving forward with The End and the Beginning and I love it. I finished up my Amish book and I plucked a new Catholic fiction volume off my shelf that I received for my birthday. I've been *very* tempted by some secular romance novels lately. I feel no compunction in saying that my reading roots are romance fiction, and I love this genre. I've been hoarding inexpensive Harlequin titles on my shelves that I picked up on the cheap, and I'm *dying* to delve into them, but I'm managed herculean restraint and I'm saying them for Easter time. I feel very martyr-like for my efforts.

Anyway, I was dwelling on my lenten failures this morning as I poured my cereal and Anne attempted to eat the throw rug at my feet, when Mike drew my attention to an article in the local section of our newspaper: yet another nearby Catholic school, running for the past *95 years* is closing at the end of this academic year.

This is so, so sad. Over the past 5 years or so, this area has seen a deluge of beautiful and historic Catholic parishes and schools close, and it's just heartbreaking.

We live in the heart of the Rust Belt. This area, once thriving with immigrants and their families, has had a massive loss of population. Those immigrants were mainly of Italian and Polish descent, so there were a LOT of Catholics. All of those Catholics attended gorgeous old-style Catholic churches and sent their kids to Catholic school. This school in question, the one that is closing, peaked in attendance with approximately 650 students back in the late 1950's and early 1960's. 10 years ago it had about 185 students. This school year, it had 109 students. For the upcoming academic year, only 60 students had enrolled, despite aggressive efforts to boost enrollment.

There's a lot of competition in this area, despite prior school closings. Very close to this school are 2 other Catholic schools , plus 5 others within a decently close driving distance, including the one Henry attends. And that's after 3 Catholic schools in this same area closed over the past few years! And the fact of the matter is, there's not as many people living in this area anymore. And of those people remaining that are Catholic, many of them just don't feel a pressing need to send their kids to Catholic school the way families used to. Now granted, there are lots of reasons parents decide to send their children to a public or otherwise non-Catholic school, and that's totally understandable. For many people, it's financial. The public school is free (aside from our tax money, of course). And for children with special needs the public school often offers more services for them.

But I can't help but think a huge issue is the fact that so many Catholics do not (or rarely) attend Mass anymore. People that aren't involved in their parish community are much less likely to send their children to the parish school. That combined with the two issues I mentioned above translates into a much smaller pool of students interspersed over all of these old Catholic schools, and you see the closings that we're experiencing now.

The school that Henry attends is doing well, thankfully, but it *is* smaller than the other 2 close by Catholic schools, which are absolutely thriving. This makes me terribly nervous. I just continue to recommend the school to other parents and hope for the best. I'd think that Henry's school would get a few families from this school that is closing, since it's not too far away. There's one that is closer that I'm certain will pick up the majority of them. Our diocese is offering a $500 stipend to all families in the closing school to enroll in any other diocesan Catholic school next year. And they'll be eligible for the discounted parishoner tuition rate. We also receive this rate, since we attend a parish without a Catholic school. Our parish school closed after running for just over 100 years. Only 80 students enrolled. So, so sad.

I mentioned my sadness to Mike, who concurred. I expressed a bit of anxiety about what we would do should Henry's school close, and happily he mentioned that we could look at the other 2 Catholic schools in our town. So, we'll see what happens. But we take pride in Henry's school and support it as much as we can. Enrollment time came up recently for next year, and I'm thrilled that we registered Henry for second grade there.

He came home the other day with a lenten journal that he had to decorate. PRECIOUS. I just love that he is there.

All excited about Lenten devotionals...

...because that's just the sort of thing that I regularly get excited about. I posted not too long ago about requesting free sample copies of Magnificat for myself and Magnifikid! for Henry to see how we liked them. And yay, they arrived!

I used to subscribe to Magnificat a number of years ago (won't think about how many years ago, too depressing...somebody's *birthday* is coming up this weekend) and I really did like it, but I found that eventually I wasn't using it as much, and for $45 per year you really want to use it to its fullest potential. I really liked the saint biographies that were included for each day, and they were usually of more obscrue saints I'd never heard of before. I also loved the artwork and the additional articles and special devotions that appeared in each issue. I did use it for daily Mass (when I was able to attend) and Sunday Mass, for the readings. I didn't really use the included daily prayers, based on the Liturgy of the Hours.

Now, I have a Sunday Missal, so I wouldn't even use the readings, but I'm re-curious (new coined term) about whether or not I'd use the prayers as a daily devotional. I have a full set of the Liturgy of the Hours, but I haven't used them in awhile since it's difficult to find enough uninterrupted time to pray all of the hours, especially evening prayer and the office of readings. I do get the Advent and Lent companions each year that Magnificat puts out, so I thought maybe it was time to reconsider it. So I ordered that sample copy along with Hank's Magnifikid!

Both came the other day. Neither officially starts until March, so we won't get the full test until then. But I did notice that Magnificat now has a 6 month subscription option which I don't remember them having before. Obviously, it's cheaper to subscribe right off the bat for a longer period of time, but that's a nice way to try it for a short duration and see if you use it and like it. It's only $24.95 for the 6 month option.

Hank's Magnifikid is actually a series of little booklets, one for each weekend of Mass. The first one is March 4th. And it includes some relevant mazes and puzzles, as well as a recurring comic scene that looks like he'll find interesting. There's also the readings written in an kid-friendly format, with a cutout explaining the more difficult words. We'll see. I'm hoping that he'll find it to be something that he enjoys looking at in Mass. That only comes with a 1 year subscription option, and it's $34.95 (or 3 years for $79). I'll have him test it out that first weekend in March.

I don't want to rush into any subscription options, but I'm definitely intrigued. Anybody else subscribe to either of these?

Daily devotionals

I've been thinking that I'll let a few of my other magazine subscriptions lapse this year, and I'm in the market for a few new ones. We love periodicals in my house. Mike is a daily newspaper and Sports Illustrated guy. I subscribe to Self, Fit Pregnancy, Christianity Today, and a few crochet magazines. Fit Pregnancy I obviously won't renew after my year is up, since I will have had the baby, and I haven't really been using my crochet magazines. I do enjoy looking through them, but I get the majority of my patterns from books or online.

I'd like to try a daily Catholic devotional. In the past, I subscribed to the well regarded Magnificat. I did love it, but it's pricey, and I didn't feel that I was using it to it's fullest potential. I have a Sunday missal, so I don't need the weekend Mass readings, and I also own a full set of the Liturgy of the Hours. So, if I want to do Morning and Evening prayer, I can just use those.

From some quick research, I've spotted two potential candidates:

Living With Christ and The Word Among Us. Has anyone had a subscription to either of these two, or another that I haven't listed? If so, I would very much value your input.

As well, if you subscribe to a regular old Catholic magazine, and want to plug it, please do. I'm open to those suggestions too. I'm not really interested in deep theological treatises, I'm looking for more practical, easy to read, styles. Latin Mass Magazine is too heavy for me, and even The New Oxford Review. Do you have others to recommend?